The SIM (Speedway In Miniature)

George Smith

I justify writing about this model as it shares
its power source with the Ariel 3. A strange child's
machine fabricated in the seventies by the Woodhouse-Cornish
Company in Bradfield St George, Suffolk.

Now I remember very well, Pride and Clarke selling off the
surplus, new Ariel 3 engines at £12.50 a lump, and it was
£12.50 not £12-10s-0d, so it must have been
mid-to-late seventies. I bought four, it seemed the right
thing to do, and made a 'little' profit a few years later.
I acquired two actual Ariels, so there didn't seem a need to keep
a new engine when it could be sold for a profit (oh, dear, will I
never learn?)

Clearly, the engines became available and the SIM was born
after? The wheels were spoked in the original adverts, but
mine has cast alloy wheels, and not ex-Moby either, but I still
haven't discovered whether they were specially cast up.

The engine was very carefully altered so that it could drive
by chain. A reduction sprocket was attached to the frame,
under a white fibre-glass cover, and then dropped down to the
back wheel with another chain. The first sprocket is in
brass bearings and this grates, grinds and sends vibration right
through the cover and the machine. The automatic clutch
failed at some time, and a manufactured one-off clutch plate that
was fitted no longer disconnects when you stop. Not
difficult to sort out, I know. It did have a very clever
little needle roller bearing on the drive, it allows the shaft to
roll quite free one way, but grips and locks the shaft the other,
an excellent piece of engineering, allowing the original Ariel to
'free-wheel', I would imagine.

The tank is a beautiful alloy unit, and the seat is in the
usual gaudy red and white, as per speedway units of the time.

The SIM was endorsed by John Louis, the Ipswich Speedway
captain and whether he had any financial connections, I don't
know. John went on to build seven-speed Sachs-engined bikes
for Juniors, but these only went to Sweden.

I would like to know if there is anyone still out there that
either worked at the 'factory' or at least had some dealings with
these bikes, who made all the bits, and is John Louis still
about? It would be nice to compile everything now before it
all gets lost. Can anyone help? Any small snippet
would be very welcome. Has anyone actually still got one
even?

When he wrote this article, George alerted enthusiasts to the
existence of these unusual little bikes. In the following
eight years, several surviving examples were discovered, also a
great deal more about how they came to be built. The story
of the SIM50, Round in
Circles, was publiched in the October 2009 edition of Iceni
CAM Magazine.